In the aerospace manufacturing and repair industries there is a need to keep strict controls over fasteners, tools and other similar objects that are used in manufacturing and repair of aircraft, spacecraft, etc., but do not become a structural part of the craft being manufactured or repaired. Care must be taken that these objects are removed from the craft after use. Foreign objects left behind inside an aircraft or spacecraft have the potential for causing significant damage to that craft during flight. This type of damage has become so important in the aerospace manufacturing and repair industries that it has been given the particular designation of Foreign Object Damage (“FOD”).
(Foreign Object Damage) has become a major safety focus of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Federal regulations have been drafted and industrial procedures have been developed to control and curb the potential for FOD in the aircraft manufacturing and repair industries.
FOD control becomes particularly difficult when dealing with smaller objects and when dealing with a large number of objects that are used in aircraft manufacturing and repair. This is particularly true for the conventional cleco type fastener.
Conventional cleco type fasteners are available in five different sizes that are all relatively small. This contributes to the possibility of a cleco type fastener used in a manufacturing or repair procedure to be overlooked and left behind when that procedure is completed.
Additionally, the conventional cleco type fastener is often used in large numbers in manufacturing and repair procedures. With a large number of such fasteners used in a manufacturing or repair procedure, the probability of one or two such fasteners being left behind when the procedure is completed increases.
The current best practice for monitoring or keeping inventory of cleco type fasteners in use during a manufacturing or repair procedure is to keep the fasteners in a zippered bag or some other type of container prior to their use, and returning the fasteners to the bag or container after their use. However, this practice is not very efficient. The bag or container is often used to hold other items such as tools or personal items. These other items kept in the same bag or container with the fasteners can interfere with viewing the fasteners for quantity accountability on and off an aircraft. This can lead to incorrect counts of the fasteners in the bag or container which could result in a fastener being left behind in the structure of the aircraft after the manufacturing or repair procedure.
Furthermore, the use of a bag or container for keeping an inventory of cleco type fasteners requires that the bag or container be opened during use. This presents the potential problem of the bag or container being knocked over in the aircraft interior causing fasteners contained in the bag or container to spill out and fall through the structure of the aircraft. Retrieving spilled fasteners from the interior structure of the aircraft would be difficult and time consuming.
Still further, often pluralities of different size cleco type fasteners are kept in the bag or container. This makes it difficult to quickly retrieve and account for the particular size fastener needed for a particular manufacturing or repair procedure. This leads to manufacturing and repair inefficiencies.
There is a need to overcome the disadvantages associated with the traditional methods of containing, transporting and keeping inventory of cleco type fasteners used in aircraft manufacturing and repair industries, as well as other similar industries.